Method and Circuitry for Processing Data

1. An apparatus, comprising: one or more inputs configured to receive a plurality of data packets, said data packets comprising payload data and address information; one or more summing units configured to arithmetically sum at least a portion of original payload data of at least two of said data packets in dependence on a comparison of the address information of said at least two data packets to generate new payload data, said new payload data taking the place of said original payload data of said at least two of said data packets; and a plurality of outputs configured to output said new payload data in place of original payload data used in its generation, said summing units being configured to route said new payload data to one or more of said plurality of outputs.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said data packets comprise a header, said header comprising said address information.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein said header comprises at least one of the following fields: information identifying a type of data in the payload, and a time stamp.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the one or more summing units are configured to sum together payload data of packets with the same header.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the one or more summing units are configured to sum together payload data of packets with different headers.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said summing of data is based on external rules.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein said one or more summing units are configured to sum payload data of packets with different addresses.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein said one or more summing units are configured to sum payload data of packets with different types of data.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein said one or more summing units are configured to sum payload data of packets with different time stamps.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein at least one of said plurality of outputs is configured to output a packet comprising the summed data and said same header.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , comprising one or more address extracting units are configured to extract the address information from said data.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11 , wherein said one or more address extracting units configured to start extracting the address information before all of a packet is received.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein said payload data is summed at the same time or after the header has been output by at least one of said plurality of outputs.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the one or more inputs comprises a plurality of inputs and said one or more summing units are configured to take into account identities of the plurality of inputs when summing the data.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to identify one or more of said plurality of outputs of said apparatus.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15 , wherein said identifying one or more of said plurality of outputs of said apparatus is provided by a look up table.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein separate summing units are provided for each output.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the data to be summed is directed to a summing unit associated with the identified output.

19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said one or more summing units are provided with a plurality of adder stages.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said data comprise spread spectrum data.

21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the data which is summed together is such that different data of the summed data can be distinguished from each other.

22. A base station comprising one or more apparatuses, each of said apparatuses comprising: one or more inputs configured to receive a plurality of data packets, said data packets comprising payload data and address information; one or more summing units configured to arithmetically sum at least a portion of original payload data of at least two of said data packets in dependence on a comparison of the address information of said at least two data packets to generate new payload data, said new payload data taking the place of said original payload data of said at least two of said data packets; and a plurality of outputs configured to output said new payload data in place original payload data used in its generation, said summing units being configured to route said new payload data to one or more of said plurality of outputs.

23. The base station as claimed in claim 22 , wherein a plurality of said apparatus is provided in said base station.

24. The base station as claimed in claim 23 , wherein said plurality of said apparatus comprises nodes in a packet based baseband radio frequency bus.

25. The base station as claimed in claim 22 , wherein said summed data is directed to a predetermined one or more beam or antenna of said base station.

26. The base station as claimed in claim 22 , wherein said data to be transmitted by said base station on a carrier output is summed together.

27. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least some data is summed as at least some data is output.

28. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said apparatus is configured to process and route data simultaneously.

29. A method, comprising: receiving a plurality of data packets, said data packets comprising payload data and address information; comparing the address information of at least two of said data packets; arithmetically summing at least a portion of original payload data of said at least two of data packets in dependence on the result of the comparison to generate new payload data, said new payload data taking the place of said original payload data of said at least two of said data packets; and routing said new payload data in place of original payload data used in its generation to at least one of a plurality of outputs.

30. The method as claimed in claim 29 , wherein payload data of data packets having the same address information are summed together.

31. The method as claimed in claim 29 , wherein at least portions of the summing and routing steps take place at the same time.

32. An apparatus, comprising: input means for receiving a plurality of data packets, said data packets comprising payload data and address information; summing means for arithmetically summing at least a portion of original payload data of at least two of said data packets in dependence on a comparison of the address information of said at least two data packets to generate new payload data, said new payload data taking the place of said original payload data of said at least two of said data packets; and a plurality of output means for outputting said new payload data in place original payload data used in its generation, said summing means routing said new payload data to one or more of said plurality of output means.

33. A base station comprising one or more apparatuses, each of said apparatuses comprising: input means for receiving a plurality of data packets, said data packets comprising payload data and address information; summing means for arithmetically summing at least a portion of original payload data of at least two of said data packets in dependence on a comparison of the address information of said at least two data packets to generate new payload data, said new payload data taking the place of said original payload data of said at least two of said data packets; and a plurality of output means for outputting said new payload data in place of original payload data used in its generation, said summing means routing said new payload data to one or more of said plurality of output means.